


the disappearance of personal space

by corgisocks



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, YouTube, can't think of anything else, they're filming a video during this, warning: phil curses twice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 16:23:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12016533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corgisocks/pseuds/corgisocks
Summary: Dan has been feeling so giddy since Halloween Baking: Monster Pops was released that he feels the need to share it with the world. The only problem is that he doesn’t think he can without outing himself, so the next time he tries to film a video with Phil, he ends up needing consolation.But somehow, it turns out that Dan (and Phil) can be open about their relationship after all–-it just isn’t in the way Dan expected to be.





	the disappearance of personal space

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys; thank you so much for reading this! it's both the first fan fiction i have ever written and the first work of fiction i have written in over a year, so please proceed with caution as it may not be very good ^^"

Dan and Phil had been filming the next episode of their well-loved Sims series for about fifteen minutes now, but somehow, Dan’s ‘enthusiasm’–which was normally difficult to sustain during such long videos–hadn’t dwindled yet. He’d stared at Phil for minutes at a time; he hadn’t tried to prevent Phil from executing ridiculous schemes; he’d even laughed or smiled at _literally every freaking word Phil had said so far_ , and although that didn’t sound too unusual, it would’ve done one good to put the emphasis on the “every freaking word” part.

It’d been just over a week since they’d released their most recent Halloween Baking video, and Phil could have sworn that Dan hadn’t acted this giddy in ages, if not ever. Even the most banal of their domestic conversations were beginning to be followed by all-too-obvious expressions of affection, and it had been a little unsettling at first. However, it didn’t take Phil long to decide that it was actually both quite endearing and extremely infectious, and he was quickly getting used to it.

That was why he was caught completely off guard when Dan whispered an almost apologetic-sounding “Phil?”

It was just barely audible enough to get his attention, and he sounded so unlike how he had just minutes ago that it made a noticeable pain flash through Phil’s chest.

“What’s the matter?” Phil asked, altering his demeanor to match Dan’s almost immediately. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I just–” Dan mumbled unsurely, “I can’t do this anymore.”

“What? What can’t you–”

Dan cut Phil off wordlessly, directing a sheepish-yet-intense gaze up at him, then shifting it towards the camera. Phil stood up to turn it off, motioning for Dan to move from his office chair to the sofa, and followed him back there once he lightly tapped the device’s power button.

“Do you want to talk, or do you just need to think for a little while?” Phil asked quietly once they both sat down, draping an arm around the other man’s shoulders.

“I just can’t hide anymore,” Dan sighed after a moment of hesitation, somehow sounding shy, resigned, and inexplicably fond all at once. “I mean, I guess I _can_ , and I know we need to, ‘cause we can’t announce things about us or everything’s gonna change completely, and I don’t want it to. It’s just gotten so hard not to reveal it now that I’ve lowered my inhibitions once, you know? I can’t film a fucking video with you anymore without struggling to control myself.”

“Dan,” Phil murmured in response, “it’s fine. I’ve seen how happy it’s made you. I think we should keep doing it.”

“Lowering our inhibitions? But how? What would that do?”

“We don’t have to tell people what we are for them to know it,” Phil replied, placing a hand on Dan’s thigh. “Remember how you told me you were so sick of people assuming you’re straight just because you haven’t ‘come out’ that you've decided to ease them into the idea that you aren’t, but never, like, actually confirm it?”

“And that one day, people will just know,” Dan breathed, eyes beginning to widen, “even though I'll never say it outright.”

“Exactly,” Phil replied, the corners of his mouth lifting a little. “Do you think, maybe, we could just–-like, as soon as you’re comfortable-–start dropping hints and naturally becoming a little more obvious than we already are?”

Dan didn’t reply, but his ever-brightening expression and Phil’s own excitement were enough to drive him to continue. “It wouldn’t happen all at once, of course. It’d take time, but we could just do it so subtly that they’d get used to it.”

“People would still view us in the same way, then,” Dan continued incredulously. “Oh my god. That’s actually such a good idea.”

“I know,” Phil replied, a tiny smile playing at his lips. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of it until today.”

“Have I ever told you that you’re a fucking genius?”

“I’m not sure whether you have, but if you haven’t, I’m surprised you waited this long to tell me.”

“You absolute fucking dork,” Dan muttered, shaking his head fondly and reaching out to stroke Phil’s forearm, “I _hate_ you.”

“So, since it seems you’re back to normal,” Phil said brightly, pretending to ignore him, “do you think we could go back to filming now?”

“Yes, but first you must get your ass over here,” Dan ordered, making grabby hands at his–- _fuck it_ –-favourite person, resolving to never let him go if he could help it.

 

***

 

Nearly the second they’d resumed the recording of their video, Dan could tell that the rest of it was going to go well.

And in fact, as they continued to film, he was realising that it had been going a little _too_ well. Phil was beginning to make side comments that would, on occasion, develop into unapologetically enthusiastic rambles, and it was causing the last of the butterflies remaining in Dan’s stomach to invade his chest. Unsurprisingly, there they remained until Phil went off on a tangent about a childhood memory, and Dan, for the second time that day, couldn’t take it anymore.

“Wait,” he said abruptly, cutting Phil off in the middle of a particularly interesting bit about pineapples.

“What?…Oh! I’m sorry; should I stop randomly talking so much? I feel like–”

Dan took a deep breath and allowed his eyes to drift upward to meet Phil’s. “No, that’s not it at all.”

“Huh?” Phil murmured such with great uncertainty that Dan could practically feel the other man’s bewilderment himself, and it made him giggle.

“Yes, Philly?”

Phil shook his head and sighed with mock-exasperation. “ _Then_ what did you want, _Daniel_?”

“I wanted to do something before we stop recording.”

Phil was about to ask him what that “something” was before Dan began to lean towards him, closing the distance between them not with haste but innocent apprehension, and let his lips ever-so-slightly brush Phil’s cheek. It left his face coloured such an embarrassingly bright shade of pink that it warmed Dan’s heart to its melting point.

“Why’d you do that, Danny Boy?” Phil asked teasingly when the boy in question pulled away, not having the heart to remind him that he’d have to edit it out because _that was just too goddamn cute._

Dan couldn’t help but poke the other man’s face instead of responding to him immediately, so as to solidify the idea that yes, that had actually just happened, and even he couldn’t believe he’d done it. _Practicing for later_ , he thought–

“Daaaan,” Phil whined, somehow beginning to blush even more deeply, “answer my question already!”

–and he decided that didn’t matter.

“Your face is all warm now,” Dan remarked as he allowed his finger to drift down Phil’s arm, dimples beginning to form on his own rosy cheeks. “ _That’s_ why I did it.”

“For fuck’s sake, Dan, you’re making my editing job so much more difficult than it needs to be!“ Phil complained, though he sounded more like he was on the verge of erupting into giggles than anything else. 

Dan tilted his head, smirking menacingly, and retorted, “Says the guy who refuses to swear, even on the fucking _gaming channel_.”

“Ugh, shut the fuck up,” Phil groaned, “you are the absolute _worst_!”

“Make me.” 

And if he hadn’t meant it before, he did now. Daniel James Howell, whose eyebrows were waggling with infuriating abandon, _was_ the absolute worst, and nothing would ever change that.

( _But somehow_ , Phil realised as he fought the urge to take him up on that offer, _he adored him anyway_.)

**Author's Note:**

> visit me on tumblr if you haven't already! http://corgisocks.tumblr.com
> 
> please leave a comment if you liked this. comments make me happy. :)


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